Scottish Parliament

Written Answers

Monday 23 August 1999

Scottish Executive

Civil Servants

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many civil servants are employed by the Scottish Executive, and of these, how many have their main place of work: (a) in Edinburgh, and (b) in the rest of Scotland.

Mr Jack McConnell: There are 13544.9   civil servants employed by the Scottish Executive and Associated Departments. Of these, 6299 have their main place of work in Edinburgh; the remainder (7245.9) are deployed in various locations throughout Scotland.

Environment

Robin Harper (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it will take to ensure that the world heritage site of St Kilda is fully protected from the potential threats posed by the deep water oil developments being licensed there by Her Majesty’s Government.

Sarah Boyack: We are satisfied that the measures in place for consideration of the potential environmental impact of petroleum activities on all parts of the UK Continental Shelf ensure the protection of the St Kilda World Heritage Site. The licensing of blocks for petroleum exploration and development is a reserved matter and rests with the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. For future licensing rounds, the Scottish Executive will be fully consulted before any new licenses are granted.

  The UK Government have convened a round table meeting of relevant stakeholders with a view to the preparation of a State of Conservation Report on St Kilda for the next meeting of the World Heritage Bureau due to be held in Marrakech in November.

  In addition, under the Offshore Petroleum Production and Pipe-Lines (Assessment of Environmental Effects) Regulations 1999, the Scottish Executive is a statutory consultee for relevant projects requiring the consent of the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.

Europe

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-324 by Mr Jack McConnell on 14 July 1999, which European Union Council Working Group meetings it has attended to date.

Mr Jack McConnell: Officials from the Scottish Executive have since 1 July attended the following European Union Council Working Group meetings:

  OFFICIAL VISITS ABROAD: WORKING GROUP MEETINGS

  Rural Affairs Department

  


YEAR 


DATE 


WORKING GROUP 
  


OFFICIAL 
  


DEPARTMENT 
  


PURPOSE 
  




1999 
  

9 July
22 July 
  

Environment Working 
  Group
Environment Working 
  Group 
  

Mr Murray
Mrs Whytock 
  

Rural Affairs Dept
Rural Affairs Dept 
  

National emission 
  ceilings
Ambient air (benzene 
  and carbon monoxide.) 
  



1999 
  

1 July
15 July 
  

Internal Fisheries 
  Group
Internal Fisheries 
  Group 
  

Gery McLaughlin
Gery McLaughlin 
  

Rural Affairs Dept
Rural Affairs Dept 
  

Reform of Fisheries 
  Marketing Regime 
  



1999 
  

22 July 
  

External Fisheries 
  Group 
  

Andrew D Brown 
  

Rural Affairs Dept 
  

External Aspects 
  of Common Fisheries Policy 
  



  Executive Secretariat

  


YEAR 


DATE 


WORKING GROUP 
  


OFFICIAL 
  


DEPARTMENT 
  


PURPOSE 
  




1999 
  

8 July 
  

Environment Committee 
  

Mr Giverin 
  

Executive Secretariat 
  

Strategic Environmental 
  Assessment Directive 
  



  Education Department

  


YEAR 


DATE 


WORKING GROUP 
  


OFFICIAL 
  


DEPARTMENT 
  


PURPOSE 
  




1999 
  

8 July
9 July 
  

Education Committee
Education Committee 
  

Mrs Johnston
Mrs Johnston 
  

Education Dept
Education Dept 
  

Socrates II + 
Leonardo II
Socrates II + Leonardo 
  II 
  



  Justice Department

  


YEAR 


DATE 


WORKING GROUP 
  


OFFICIAL 
  


DEPARTMENT 
  


PURPOSE 
  




1999 
  

5 July 
  

Committee on Civil 
  Law 
  

Peter Beaton 
  

JD-Courts Group
CJ&ID 
  

General Questions 
  


 

14 July 
  

Committee on Civil 
  Law 
  

Laura Dolan 
  

JD-Courts Group
CJ&ID 
  

Service of Documents 
  Directive

Finance

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-586 by Mr Jack McConnell on 30 July, whether the advance planning and preparations for converting from Sterling to the Euro, and the changeover itself, will require local authorities to incur costs and, if so, what these costs are estimated to be and whether local authorities will be expected to meet these costs from their existing resources.

Mr Jack McConnell: It is too early to estimate the potential costs to local authorities, if it were decided that the United Kingdom should join the Economic and Monetary Union. As I indicated in my previous response (to Question S1W-585 on 30 July 1999) both the Scottish Executive and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities are involved with other Departments in a Working Group to look at the potential implications for local authorities, but this work is at an early stage.

Finance

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that any additional costs incurred from the Scottish Consolidated Fund as a consequence of decisions by the Westminster Parliament should be fully funded by Her Majesty’s Treasury.

Mr Jack McConnell: The funding arrangements for the devolved administrations are set out in the Statement of Funding Policy, published by HM Treasury on 31 March 1999. The Statement provides that budgets may be exceptionally adjusted to compensate a devolved administration for costs which it incurs as a result of actions by the UK Government not already allowed for through the operation of the Barnett Formula. Budgets will not, however, be adjusted to accommodate additional costs incurred as a result of decisions by the UK Government which the UK Government is expecting its departments with parallel responsibilities to absorb within existing spending plans.

Finance

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that any additional costs incurred by Scottish local authorities as a result of decisions made by the Parliament should be fully funded from expenditure approved by the Parliament rather than by local authorities themselves.

Mr Jack McConnell: Any potential new burdens on local authorities arising from decisions taken by the Scottish Executive will be discussed fully with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities as part of the statutory consultations which take place each year on the local government finance settlement. The presumption is that where the introduction of a new policy will impose new costs on local authorities, then these should be reflected in the local government finance settlement.

Health

Malcolm Chisholm (Edinburgh North and Leith) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what its definition is of nursing posts that are (a) vacant and (b) permanently held open.

Susan Deacon: In relation to the data supplied for questions S1W-683 and S1W-684 the following definitions were used for nursing posts that are a) vacant and b) permanently held open.

  All funded posts unfilled at the census point.

  Funded posts existing at the census point.

Health

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish the criteria being applied to the review of Cochlear Implant Services by the National Services Division of the NHS in Scotland.

Susan Deacon: The criteria being applied to assess the different options for the future configuration of cochlear implantation services in Scotland are: clinical effectiveness; comprehensiveness of treatment services; the choice of care available to referring clinicians, patients and parents; access and non-clinical support; flexibility; and overall value for money.

Health

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish the composition of the review group on Cochlear Implant Services in Scotland.

Susan Deacon: The Review Group comprises:

  




Professor Quentin 
  Summerfield, Medical Research Council, Institute of Hearing 
  and Research
  



Mr Joseph Toner, 
  Consultant ENT Surgeon, Regional Cochlear Implant Centre, 
  Belfast
  



Ms Alison Peasgood, 
  Speech and Language Therapist, RNTNE Hospitals, London
  



Miss Carol M Clark, 
  Educational Audiologist, Ayrshire
  



Mr Raj S Singh, 
  Consultant ENT Surgeon, Crosshouse Hospitalospital
  



Ms Agnes Allen, 
  Clinical Scientist, Crosshouse Hospital
  



Dr Alastair Kerr, 
  Consultant, Consultant ENT Surgeon, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh
  



Dr Barr Hamilton, 
  Audiological Scientist, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh
  



Ms Rosemary Hill, 
  Argyll & Clyde Local Health Council
  



Mr Neil Geddes, 
  Consultant ENT Surgeon, Yorkhill NHS Trust, Glasgow
  



Dr Jacqueline 
  Grigor, Consultant Paediatrician, Royal Hospital for Sick 
  Children, Edinburgh
  



Mr John McGarva, 
  Consultant ENT Surgeon, Stirling Royal Infirmary
  



Mrs Deirdre Evans, 
  Director, National Services Division
  



Dr Adam Bryson 
  , Medical Director, NSD 
  



Miss Katherine 
  Collins, Nursing and Quality Adviser, National Services 
  Division
  



Mr Peter Croan, 
  Finance Manager, National Services Division
  



Miss Marjorie 
  Johns, Service Planner, National Services Division

Health

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish the cost per Cochlear Implant by hospital, gender and age for all centres currently dealing with Scottish residents.

Susan Deacon: The average cost per implant in the two Trusts providing the service in Scotland in 1999-2000 are:

  


Ayrshire & Arran 
  Acute NHS Trust
  

£20,320
  

per implant
  



Lothian University 
  Hospitals NHS Trust
  

£23,613
  

per implant 
  



  There are no differences in costs for gender or age. Information is not held on the costs of care outside Scotland.

Health

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the British Cochlear Implant Group Quality Standards in Paediatric Cochlear Implantation will be taken account of in determining the award of the Cochlear contract.

Susan Deacon: The British Cochlear Implant Group Quality Standards in Paediatric Cochlear Implantation will be taken into account.

Health

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive to provide details of how many cochlear implants on Scottish residents have taken place elsewhere in the UK during the last five years.

Susan Deacon: : This information is not routinely collected in Scotland. The only information available on the numbers of Scottish patients referred to England was included in the reply of 3 August to Mr Gallie.

Health

Fiona McLeod (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-415 by Susan Deacon on 20 July, whether the current local outpatient waiting time guarantees for a first outpatient appointment following a general medical practitioner referral, are minimum, maximum or average times.

Susan Deacon: The local waiting time guarantees for a first outpatient appointment are the maximum length of time that a patient should expect to wait for an appointment with a Consultant following referral by a General Medical Practitioner.

Health

Paul Martin (Glasgow Springburn) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive to specify the remuneration payments made to members of the North Glasgow University Hospitals NHS Trust in the current financial year and in each of the past five financial years.

Susan Deacon: The information requested is not held centrally for executive members of NHS Trusts or Health Boards. Remuneration payments to executive members of the North Glasgow University Hospitals NHS Trust for the current financial year will be available in the Trust's Annual Report for 1999-2000.

  The North Glasgow University Hospitals NHS Trust was formally established on 1 April 1999, the date from which remuneration was payable to its Chairman and non-executive trustees. The Chairman receives £19,285 and the trustees £5000 per annum.

  Payments to executive members serving on other NHS Trusts before Trust re-configuration on 1 April 1999 will have been made by those former employers: remuneration details will be shown in the Annual Reports of the relevant employing NHS Trust.

Health

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to increase the level of funding dedicated to research into amnesic shellfish poisoning currently affecting the scallop fishery and whether it intends to investigate the disease testing regime, in particular the time-lag between testing and issuing of results.

Susan Deacon: There are no proposals to change the research funding arrangements as a result of this incident.

  The programme is routinely reviewed each year, and any necessary changes made to reflect shifts in priorities.

  The time between receipt of samples in the laboratory and the issuing of results is determined by the laboratory procedures required. Whilst automated procedures are used wherever possible, further reductions in testing times are not technically possible.

Justice

Ms Margaret Curran (Glasgow Baillieston) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to amend the list of courts attracting a £50 addition to the core payment prescribed in the Criminal Legal Aid (Fixed Payments (Scotland)) Regulations 1999.

Mr Jim Wallace: The 9 courts prescribed in the Regulations were selected by application of a formula. The 15 sheriff courts with the lowest throughput of persons called to court were identified from published 1996 statistics. Those which were less than 40 miles from the nearest neighbouring court were identified and excluded. Those which could only be reached by a sea crossing were included. This left the 9 courts. The formula has now been reapplied to the Sheriff Court statistics for 1998-99 on the number of accused appearing in each sheriff court. The sheriff courts of Wick and Fort William will therefore be added to the list as well as Dunoon sheriff court where presently only the annexe at Lochgilphead attracts the extra fee. I intend to lay the amending Regulations as soon as possible after Parliament reconvenes.

  I intend an annual review of the list once the previous year’s figures are available, but in order to maintain stability, if a court is added to the list, it will remain on the list for at least 3 years, even though the annual review might suggest its removal.

Local Government

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it envisages any disruption to local authority services in Scotland as a result of preparing for the possible entry of the United Kingdom into European Monetary Union.

Mr Frank McAveety: A Joint Central/Local Government Working Group has been established to ensure that any disruption that arises from a decision to join the Economic and Monetary Union is kept to a minimum as far as local authority services are concerned. The Scottish Executive and COSLA are members of the Group.

Parliamentary Questions

Phil Gallie (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what is the cost of answering the thirty-eight questions tabled by Keith Raffan MSP as published in the Scottish Parliament Business Bulletin of Friday 9 July 1999.

Mr Jack McConnell: Preliminary work on estimating the cost of answering Scottish Parliamentary Questions suggests an average cost of about £100 per question – a figure that is consistent with evidence from the UK Parliament. This takes account of time spent by staff of the Scottish Executive on dealing with questions and a proportion of overhead costs, including accommodation. It does not take account of time spent on questions by Ministers and staff in their offices.

Scottish Executive

Ms Margaret Curran (Glasgow Baillieston) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it plans to publish guidance setting out its standards and procedures.

Donald Dewar: I have today published two documents taking forward the commitment to collective responsibility contained in Partnership for Scotland .

  The first is the Scottish Ministerial Code which provides a code of conduct and guidance on procedures for Scottish Ministers. The Code is designed to ensure the highest standards of public propriety amongst Ministers. It also underlines our commitment to working in partnership with the Scottish Parliament. We intend to draw upon the best of good practice in other countries, providing open and responsible government.

  The second document is A Guide to Collective Decision-making in the Scottish Executive. This is primarily a source of advice for officials: providing detailed guidance on arrangements for supporting collective decision-making by Ministers. These arrangements are designed to enable the efficient and effective conduct of business within the Executive: allowing Ministers to focus upon the key issues and facilitating joined-up government.

  Both documents will be placed on the Internet. Copies have also been sent to the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

Social Inclusion

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is or intends taking to insure that people living in deprived communities have access to financial services.

Ms Wendy Alexander: The recent results from the first round of the Scottish Household Survey suggest that across Scotland, 12% of householders (or their partners) do not have a bank account. This conceals a wide variation: for example only 61% of single parents have some form of account. This is a matter of concern and Scottish Ministers are committed to improving access to financial services. We are actively engaged in discussions with a range of bodies, including financial institutions, to promote wider access to a broad range of financial services.

Social Inclusion

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide a breakdown of the estimated £12 million expenditure on the Warm Deal by category and by year of spend.

Ms Wendy Alexander: £12 million is the budget for the Warm Deal for the year 1999/2000. 47% has been set aside for the local authorities stock and 53% for private and housing association stock.

Social Inclusion

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of the targets set for each Social Inclusion Partnership in Scotland and the latest available information on their performance in relation to these targets.

Ms Wendy Alexander: A network of 47 Social Inclusion Partnerships is now in place, tackling the problems of exclusion in rural and urban areas across Scotland. Of these, 26 are new Social Inclusion Partnerships, which began their work on 1 April 1999. The new Social Inclusion Partnerships are currently developing their strategies. Their finalised targets will be set out in monitoring and evaluation plans, which each new Social Inclusion Partnership will develop later this year. New guidance is currently being developed to assist the Social Inclusion Partnerships in doing this.

  As well as the new partnerships, 21 of the existing Priority Partnership Areas and Regeneration Programmes were designated as Social Inclusion Partnerships on 1st April 1999 following a re-focusing of their work programmes. Each of these converted Social Inclusion Partnerships has a set of targets agreed with the Scottish Executive early in its life. Each partnership sets out details of its performance against these targets every year in its annual report. Annual reports for 1998/99 have now been submitted to the Scottish Executive, and I have placed copies of the annual reports in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

Transport

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware that on 7 July 1999 the Fort William to Mallaig road was blocked for a period of approximately 4 hours and whether it intends to make an announcement with regard to the prioritisation of an upgrading programme of the trunk routes in Scotland.

Sarah Boyack: The Scottish Executive was aware of the incident. On 7 July 1999 an articulated lorry loaded with fish ran off the road, resulting in a temporary road closure between 1540 hours and 1900 hours.

  An announcement concerning the Strategic Roads Review will be made to Parliament after the summer recess.

Transport

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive which local authority areas will not be taking part in the voluntary Scottish concessionary travel scheme.

Sarah Boyack: I hope to launch the scheme towards the end of this year, and arrangements are being put in hand by my officials.

  It is too early to say what the level of participation will be, but our aim is to reach a voluntary agreement with all local authorities and transport operators to provide blind people with free concessionary travel on bus and rail services throughout Scotland.

Transport

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what effect additional traffic congestion caused by the possible loss of the Underground service on match days at Ibrox Stadium is likely to have on the safe operation of Accident and Emergency services based at the Southern General Hospital.

Susan Deacon: I understand that only a small proportion of football supporters use the Glasgow underground system when travelling to Ibrox. In the event that underground services are cancelled on match days this should only have a minor additional impact on traffic in the Southern General Hospital’s catchment area. It is most unlikely that this would disrupt the safe operation of Accident and Emergency Services at the Southern General Hospital.

Transport

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-307 by Sarah Boyack on 9 August, whether it will provide details of the individual schemes recommended by the Route Action Plan study.

Sarah Boyack: The individual schemes recommended by the A77 Route Action Plan study are as follows:-

  


1. Dalquat
  

1.1 kms - Northbound 
  climbing lane
  



2. South of Ayr
  

1.9 kms - Dual carriageway 
  
  



3. North of Maybole
  

1.8 kms - Dual carriageway 
  
  



4. North of Kirkoswald
  

3.1 kms - Wide single 
  carriageway 
  



5. Burnside
  

1.4 kms - Wide single 
  carriageway 
  



6. Haggstone
  

1.4 kms - Northbound 
  climbing lane
  



7. Ardwell to Kennedy’s 
  Pass
  

1.4 kms - Wide single 
  carriageway 
  



8. Auchencross to 
  Carloch
  

1.5 kms - Southbound 
  climbing lane

Voluntary Sector

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to evaluate the time-limited approach to the funding of voluntary sector projects and, if so, what type of evaluation it plans to make.

Jackie Baillie: A new code setting out good practice in government funding of voluntary organisations is being prepared for issue later this year. It will confirm the Government’s commitment to providing 3 -year core grants, which can be renewed subject to a continuing need for the service and adequate performance. It will also state that there continues to be a place for time-limited project grants.

Voluntary Sector

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to address the issue of possible disruption to users of voluntary sector projects which are discontinued due to lack of continuation funding, and to assess the impact of any consequent additional workload and expenditure on statutory services.

Jackie Baillie: It is already standard practice to assess the impact on services when applications are received for grants or for renewals. Given that resources are finite, a balance may then have to be struck between continuing existing grants and accepting new applications which develop new services and innovative approaches.

Voluntary Sector

Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive to specify the number of voluntary sector projects established with time-limited public funding which have managed to secure continuation funding, or which have ceased operation because they were unable to secure long term funding.

Jackie Baillie: It is estimated that public sector funding of the voluntary sector in Scotland totals approximately £742 million. Most of this money will be distributed by a range of public authorities to a very large number of voluntary organisations. Given this level of activity, it is neither practicable nor appropriate for the Scottish Executive to maintain information on individual grants centrally.

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body

Parliamentary Groups

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Presiding Officer whether the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body intends to make available any assistance, financial or otherwise, for all-party parliamentary groups.

Sir David Steel: Clerks are currently preparing draft proposals for the establishment of a scheme to register all party parliamentary groups, to be considered by the Standards Committee. Once such a scheme is in place, the SPCB will be invited to consider what facilities might be made available to registered groups, such as access to meeting rooms in the Parliamentary buildings, and access to catering facilities. An announcement on the arrangements to be put in place will be made in the Business Bulletin in due course.